GRASSES! Chosen carefully and used adventurously, they’ll bring variety and interest even to small gardens
Learn to love glorious
Why have grasses become so popular in recent years? Historically, apart from their use as lawns, grasses were eschewed by gardeners. However, Gertrude Jekyll incorporated grasses, especially miscanthus, into some of her planting plans. She called it ‘eulalia grass’ and valued it for its structure and presence.
William Robinson, the father of naturalistic planting, used these grasses and describes ‘Eulalia japonica’(Miscanthus sinensis) as reaching 5.1-5.4m (17-18ft) in circumference.
But it wasn’t until the last two decades of the 20th century that we were introduced to the idea of prairie planting. This involved combining robust grasses with low-maintenance perennials in naturalistic plantings which, ideally, were self-sustaining.
In her municipal plantings in Munich, Rosemary Weisse, one of the first to experiment with the prairie style, concentrated on using plants that not only got on happily without any molly-coddling, but were also in harmony with the site, the soil and the prevailing climatic conditions. Her principles are based on sound common sense and simple natural laws – right plant, right place, a muchrepeated concept nowadays.
But how applicable is prairie gardening to the average British plot? Using grasses creatively on a smaller plot presents a greater challenge. In a small garden, grasses need to be chosen carefully and used adventurously. Adding one of everything, on the assumption that this will provide variety and interest, doesn’t work.
Grass gardens, as seen on TV, have become standard issue. There have been grasses galore in gravel, grasses in grass beds and more grasses in containers. The trick is to integrate grasses into our gardens, using their qualities to enhance other plants. And the other important consideration is to choose grasses that suit our soil and situation.
A grass is a grass is a grass – aren’t they all the same? Far from it. Some grasses – many of the miscanthus for example – vary in height and stature and in the shape and colour of their inflorescence.
Some varieties of Molinia